Tsukasa Shiba
is an antagonist and later, one of the supporting characters in the Gundam Build Divers television series. He is the builder and pilot of the MBF-PNN Gundam Astray No-Name. Personality & Character The so-called mastermind behind the foul play of the Mass-Divers. He intends to destroy GBN by dispersing the unofficial tools he has developed, known as Break Decals.Official site (English) His hatred for the GBN, which he calls a world full of "lies" and "deceit" amongst other things, stems from the fact that the popularity of GBN led to the obsolecence of the GP Duel, an older system for playing Gunpla Battle, which he considered to be more representative of a real Gunpla Battle. Tsukasa is also a former friend of Koichi Nanase, and Ayame's master before her defection. Skills & Abilities Tsukasa Shiba is shown to be a masterful gunpla enthusiast and veteran battler, having experience with both GBN and GPD; the latter with over 500 battles. It is also heavily implied that Tsukasa is a skilled programmer; as he is the creator of the virtually-undetectable cheating tool - Break Decal. History Four years ago, Tsukasa was an old friend of Koichi Nanase when they played Gunpla Duel. When Gunpla Battle Nexus Online became popular, he quit Gunpla Duel and his whereabouts became unknown. About two years later, Tsukasa resurfaced as a mercenary in GBN and also sold Gunpla to those in need. He assisted the force Le Chat Noir in a battle, and warned them that their opponents would get tougher and they should stop using only SD-type Gunpla. Using the opportunity, he also peddled his real-type Gunpla. His warning came true, and the force suffered a string of defeats. In a desperate attempt to stop their descent, the force's leader, Kozy, made a deal with Tuskasa, acquiring from him an LM314V23/24 V2 Assault-Buster Gundam in exchange for his own custom SD Gunpla; constructed using parts data contributed by various members of Le Chat Noir. When the force still lost, it led to a downward spiral, eventually ending in the force's disbandment. When Tsukasa was approached by Ayame, who wanted to get the SD Gunpla back to save Le Chat Noir, he made her an offer - work for him and he would give the Gunpla back if she worked hard enough. In the present, he noticed that the beginner, Riku Mikami, had somehow caught the attention of high-level players like Kyoya Kujo, Magee and Tigerwolf, and ordered Ayame to monitor him. When Ayame inadvertently stopped a ploy by a Mass-Diver impersonating Shahryar and his brother, Tsukasa ordered her to follow along with their plan against Riku and his friends. When Do-ji began to panic at Riku's rising strength, he sought out Tsukasa to obtain a Break Decal. When the Break Decal was activated, Tsukasa ordered Ayame not to interfere as Do-ji was a "valued client" and wanted to see his work in action. Tsukasa soon learned of the Coalition of Volunteers and their desire to stop his work. He lured to his base an agent of the Coalition, who was pretending to buy a Break Decal, and had one of his mercenaries shot the agent, forcibly logging the agent out. When the Coalition assaulted his base, Tsukasa sent out an army of Mass-Divers to defend his base. As he watched the battle from his command room, he praised the Coalition's high ranking players for their persistence. Suddenly an alarm alerted him to Riku heading straight to his room, and this both surprised and perplexed him as he had already put protections in place. He then ordered Ayame to stop Riku. When Riku and Sarah finally arrived in his room, he calmly asked how they know where he was. Riku sidestepped the question and said that he would not forgive Tsukasa for what he did to Ayame and his distribution of Break Decal. In response, Tsukasa said that he also would not forgive the GBN world, which he says is full of lies and deception, and vows to break it. He explains to Riku and Sarah that to him, GBN is a stupid, dull, and boring world where everything is false. When Riku called him a cheater who never played a real Gunpla Battle, Tsukasa countered that Riku is the one who never felt the true weight of battle. He proceeds to dismiss the GBN's players as naive fools, and hated the Gunpla in GBN as well. Sarah then interrupted his speech by pointing out that he was "crying", causing him to snap. Kyoya, Shahryar, and Tigerwolf then entered the room, and Tsukasa's true identity as a Guest Diver was revealed when he escaped from Tigerwolf's attempt to apprehend him. Tsukasa then deployed in an MA-08 Big Zam and activated one last Break Decal. With the Break Decal's final of three phases being deployed, a lightning bug that leaked to the other servers and could potentially collapse the entire GBN was released. Tsukasa later admitted that the Break Decal's effect surpassed his expectations, his original plan was only to wreck the server they were on. However, his plan was stopped when Riku's GN-0000DVR/A Gundam 00 Diver Ace unleashed a pair of special Trans-Am wings and nullified the effects, and his Gunpla was subsequently destroyed. After the defeat, Tsukasa hired a messenger to contact Riku and relay his willingness to return Ayame's SD Gunpla at a certain location. In exchange, Riku could not tell anyone about this, and must come alone with his 00 Diver Ace. Tsukasa finally showed his face at the location, and forced Riku to battle against him in GP Duel (GPD for short, an older system for Gunpla Battle which was phased out in favor of the GBN) if Riku truly wanted Ayame's SD Gunpla back. Tsukasa also viewed this battle as a way to avenge his defeat in GBN, and considered GPD to be the true Gunpla Battle, as in this system, the Gunpla fight and damage each other for real. After giving Riku some time to familiarize himself with the controls, Tsukasa revealed his Gunpla - the MBF-PNN Gundam Astray No-Name, which he had used since his days playing GPD. Tsukasa initially had the upper hand against Riku and his 00 Diver Ace, but his constant taunts as well as Sarah's despair over being unable to help Riku allowed him to fight back against the older player. As Astray No-Name's n_i_t_r_o System and 00 Diver Ace's Trans-Am came to an end, both Tsukasa and Riku launched their final attacks. The Astray No-Name beheaded the 00 Diver Ace, but Tsukasa narrowly lost the match as Riku had stabbed the 00 Diver Ace's GN Beam saber through the Astray No-Name's body. Koichi, Yukio and Momoka arrived after the battle ended, and Koichi noticed Tsukasa slipping away and ran after him. Realizing his old friend was the mastermind behind the Mass-Divers, Koichi wanted to know why, and Tsukasa replied he of all people should know the answer. When confronted further, Tsukasa tackled his old friend to the ground and explained he was fighting against the times, refusing to keep quiet like Koichi had. Tsukasa backed down when Koichi pointed out that he was crying, and walked away into the distance. Tsukasa was later contacted by Koichi, who needed his help to save Sarah. When he learnt that Sarah was an electronic lifeform born in GBN and faced erasure by the GBN Administration as her growth threatened to destroy the game, Tsukasa wondered if this was something from a sci-fi movie. He then described Koichi's plan of applying a Break Decal in real life as reckless. Although he thinks it would more interesting to let the events play out, he detested the idea of GBN perishing on its own, and thus agreed to help Koichi. He then worked with Koichi to create the Build Decal, which helped to transfer Sarah's data from GBN into an artificial body and was based on Break Decal's technology, but without the illegal code. Ms. Tori, the creator of GBN's Main Program, also vouched for the Build Decal's safety. On the day that the Build Decal was to be used, Tsukasa went to The Gundam Base and was brought to the GBN's server room by Nanami Nanase. There, he attached the Build Decal device to the GBN's system, and spoke briefly with Ms. Tori about the Break Decal's technology using a system from obsolete GPD. When Ms. Tori thanked him for creating the trump card that would save Sarah, he merely grunted. As the Build Divers brought Sarah to GBN's lobby, where Ms. Tori was ready to receiver her, the Raid Boss for the Raid Battle event ran wild due to the bugs caused by Sarah's growth, hindering Sarah's data from being transferred out. Tsukasa and his Astray No-Name was one of the many that arrived to stop the Raid Boss. During the process, Tsukasa's Astray No-Name saved the RX-零 RX-Zeromaru and the RMS-117G11 Galbaldy Rebake from the Raid Boss' sub-units. Tsukasa explained to Koichi Nanase that he lent a helping hand as he wanted the plan to save Sarah to proceed, thereby ensuring his creation, the Build Decal was not wasted. The Astray No-Name then partnered Koichi's Galbaldy Rebake against the sub-units. Relationships ;*Ayame :Tsukasa was her master until she betrayed him and his Mass-Divers to help Riku Mikami during the assault on his base. Tsukasa promised Ayame that if she works for him, he will give her back the Le Chat Noir's original SD Gunpla that signify the friendship of the force members. ;*Koichi Nanase :Tsukasa used to be a close friend to Koichi before he quit playing Gunpla Duel. Gallery Tsukasa & Astray No-Name in first opening.jpg|Tsukasa & Astray No-Name in first opening Tsukasa.jpg|Tsukasa's first appearance Tsukasa close-up (Ep 04).jpg |Close-up at the end of episode 5 Tsukasa in the past (Ep 06).jpg |Tsukasa walking away from Koichi Tsukasa's real avatar.PNG|Tsukasa as a guest diver Tsukasa's face close up-1.png|Tsukasa's real face close up in episode 13 References External links * Official site (Japanese) Navigation